Myth And Poetry In The Timaeus

10.1163/ej.9789004201293.i-434.85

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Chapter Summary

At the outset of the Timaeus Socrates is quite agitated. After having given a summary of an ideal state, he has a 'desire' to see his state in action, a point Plato strongly emphasizes: peponthôs tugchanô - to pathos - eis epithumian aphikoito - pepontha. When Plato attacks the painters in Book X of the Republic, he shows more respect for artisans, those who actually make objects such as beds and tables, rather than merely depict them. The poet becomes like the painter, the painter becomes like the artisan, the human artisan like the divine maker, and all of this converging in Plato's speeches rendered in the written word, both through myth and logos.